Polaha is settling in on the 'North Shore'
By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
When "North Shore" airs tonight, we have no idea how hotel manager Jason Matthews will react to last week's revelation that his lost-and-found love Nicole Booth is engaged to another man.
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We do know that the actor who plays him, Kristoffer Polaha is already happily committed — to his wife (actress Julianne Morris Polaha), to his new Fox TV series, and to his adopted home in Hawai'i.
Hotel manager Jason (Kristoffer Polaha) escorts a hotel guest (Brittany Daniel) to dinner in the series' opening episode.
"I love it here," Polaha said. "Hopefully America will accept the show and we'll be here to stay. I feel really excited and honored just to be here."
Before landing the lead role in "North Shore," Polaha was best known for his portrayal of John F. Kennedy Jr. in the television movie "America's Prince: The John F. Kennedy Jr. Story."
The Reno, Nev., native appeared as a series regular on the drama "Birds of Prey" and has worked extensively in theater.
His "North Shore" character is an ambitious hotel manager with local roots (as the son of a surfboard shaper) and lingering feelings for Nicole (Brooke Burns), who left him two years earlier only to resurface as the new director of guest relations at his hotel.
Despite mixed reviews for the pilot, which aired last week, Polaha said he thinks the show has the potential to draw and keep a loyal following of viewers — particularly as it starts to integrate more of the local culture into its scripts.
"As we get to know each other as a cast, we're also getting to know the island," he said.
"We're learning how to get around better, and how to pronounce things properly."
Polaha, who demonstrates an impressive grasp of Hawaiian pronunciation, is aware of the differences between the Hawai'i that appears on the screen and the real deal.
"It's TV, so it isn't a true representation of what the North Shore is like," he said. "The hotel is fictional and we clipped the island together. So, people might recognize a place and say, 'Hey, that's on the west side, not the North Shore.'
Still, Polaha said, he hopes local audiences will recognize the affection he and the rest of the cast and crew have for the islands.
The first of three network series shot in Hawai'i this year (a fourth, the WB's "Rocky Point" joins the mix this summer) to debut, "North Shore" has been under an intense production schedule.
"We just spent 24 days on the first three episodes," Polaha said last week. "We've been working six-day weeks, sometimes 18 hours a day. It's been tough, but I think we're really finding our legs."
Polaha's transition to life in Hawai'i has been much easier. He and his wife found a nice house in the Diamond Head area on the Internet. This August, the couple will welcome their first child — Kristoffer Caleb Polaha — at Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children.
"This is a great place to raise a child," Polaha said. "The air is clean. The water is clean. There's a real sense of community here, unlike L.A., where you have to guard your child with your life.
"This is where we want to be."
